Assam Reels Under deteriorating Law And Order

The killings of 38 persons within a span of fortnight provide ample evidences of the deteriorating law and order situation in Assam. Besides the fact that the ultras had been able to sneak into the high security zone of the State Secretariat and managed to trigger off a blast which killed eight persons clearly indicates that the State Government has failed to combat the underground forces effectively.

There is no gainsaying that Assam, the gateway of North-East is presently reeling under violence. While the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) had killed 20 people from minority community in the Kokrajhar district of Assam and allegedly killed eight persons near the State Secretariat after planting bomb in a car. The ULFA militants killed 10 persons including six policemen by triggering a powerful remote-controlled bomb in Dhubri district. The number of persons killed during the last fortnight in the State could be increased, but thanks to the timely intervention of a chokidar another bomb in a car in the parking lot of the State Secretariat was defused before it could explode.

Ironically, while the State is under the grip of unprecedented violence, two main political parties in Assam, the Congress and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) are sadly engaged in a battle of words, without seriously getting into the job of controlling the situation. The leaders of both the parties should realise that it is not the time to fight over petty issues, but to fight combinedly against the menace of terrorism.

Recently the Congress had claimed that the situation in the State had worsened because of the misrule of the AGP. On the other hand, the AGP has accused the Congress for collaborating with the underground forces.

To make the matter worse, Assam which has earned the reputation of being breeding ground of underground forces, had recently watched the birth of another armed outfit. The new outfit, Birsa Commando Force, a tribal militant organisation, apparently created for the protection of the tribal people from the militant Bodos, made their presence felt by killing the assistant manager of the Chaibari tea estate Durga Das Mukherjee in Dhubri district. For a difference, police this time had managed to arrest eight terrorists for the killing of the planter.

Meanwhile, in a statement, the NDFB has claimed the responsibility of killing 20 men of minority community. The self-styled commander of the western command of the outfit B. Habrang in the statement claimed that the NDFB killed the men not because they were members of a minority community, but because they were timber smuggler.

After the bizarre incident, Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta sent a cabinet team to the massacre site and announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs. one lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased and Rs. 25,000 to the injured. All other political parties also condemned the incident. But leader of the Bodo People’s Action Committee (BPAC) Pramila Rani Brahma was of the opinion that the massacre should be a warning in the future for those who are playing havoc with Assam’s forest cover.

The United Minorities of Assam (UMF) leaders were of the opinion that the massacre was nothing but a part of the ongoing exercise to assert the supremacy of the Bodos after driving out the others. According to them the Bodos are deliberately killing the people as they are not in majority in the proposed Bodoland Autonomus Council (BAC) area.

In another development, the Assam Chief Minister met Prime Minister and Union Home Minister L. K. Advani and apprised them of the present situation in the State. In the meeting Mr. Manahata demanded that the Centre should reimburse the security related expenditures of the State.

Later talking to mediapersons, Mr. Mahanta informed that Assam had incurred an expenditure of around Rs. 600 crore in security-related measures. He also informed that the Centre had assured him to reimburse Rs. 76 crore by this month.

Mr. Mahanta has also requested the Prime Minister to make Assam a special category State with retrospective effect from 1969 so that some of the huge Central loans burdening the State can be waived off.